Stray: Film Review

Stray: Film Review

Mixing in elements of Starred Up, the landscapes of New Zealand and edges of last year's great festival hit God's Own Country, Dustin Feneley's strikingly sparse Stray is a ferocious debut.

Focussing in on Kieran Charnock's Jack who finds himself on parole for GBH, it's the story of one man's attempted escape from the confines of his own tortured demons and prison. Trapped in central Otago and taunted by something within, Jack's routine is one of isolation above all else.

But that changes when he returns home one night to find Grace (Arta Dobroshi) in the woods - in one of the film's rare scenes of action. She's seeking refuge and Jack reluctantly agrees to provide shelter...

Stray is a feature in no hurry to get where it's going and it's all the better for it.

It takes at least half of the film before the protagonists meet, and there are very few words spoken, though Charnock offers up some extreme subtleties in how he changes his interactions when there's someone else, someone unknown in his orbit.

But it's in his interactions with others that the true pain starts to emerge, and Charnock channels the unease well. Equally Dobroshi, with her unfamiliarity and unease gives Grace an edge that makes their connection understandable and natural.

Feneley's made the film a lighting dream; from the clear crisp shots of the outside mountains to moments of intimacy within the cabin, the screen is rarely looked more enticing. The South Island's rarely looked better either, a combination of both desolation, isolation, beauty and despondency all wrapped up into one big screen parcel.

Its ending may seem abrupt and potentially up for debate, but Stray's connection and capability for exploring the human connection makes this debut a tenacious one and marks Feneley out as a Kiwi talent to watch.

Forza Horizon 4: XBox One Review

Forza Horizon 4: XBox One Review

Developed by Playground Games
Platform: XBox One

To be frank, the Forza series is one of the jewels of Microsoft's crown.

Its Motorsport and Horizon series have all been excellent in their various iterations - and it's no lie to say the latest version maintains the tradition of great racing and some truly gorgeous graphics which set it apart from other racers.

So it's no surprise that the latest doesn't fully mess with the formula - despite setting the action in Britain. Yep, Britain the home of winding roads, unending weather misery and potholes.

Except to say the Forza Horizon 4 version of Britain is very much like an Instagram version of the country - winding roads, stone walls, and rolling fields. But also in there, is a Britain that offers four seasons' worth of weather - and it's so wondrously executed that it seamlessly becomes part of the experience, like weather has in previous expansions of the Forza series.

Interestingly as well, this iteration sees the festival run by women and you can drive as a woman too - though once again, the near mute rendering of the lead is perhaps the series most head-scratching decision; the lack of reality of the lead makes them feel like a cypher more than anything.

But Playground Games have stuck to what they have always done well - the driving.

Sure, the progression element is the usual way of the game - win races, win influence, progress through the ranks. It's a "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" routine in many ways, but given the game's endless playability and ease of driving ability, this is a series that knows what its fans want and more than delivers.

Story missions see you work as a stunt driver, and others see building influence - all of which given the game's beauty and simplicity of execution are nothing short of a joy.

Seasonal weather adds much - from the way the game handles to the atmospherics of what transpires on screen, Forza Horizon 4 does a lot to embrace you and make you appreciate the series.

It's too early in the game's cycle to talk about its online functionality (untested at this time), but the main thrust of Forza Horizon 4 is still purely about entertainment. And on that driving front, it simply fires on all cylinders.

Solo: A Star Wars Story: Blu Ray Review

Solo: A Star Wars Story: Blu Ray Review

Enigma, mystery, the eternal riddle of how an iconic character came to be.

These are the things of which nightmares are made for writers tasked with origin stories.

Whether it's an infamous line, or an oblique cool-sounding reference tossed into a script as a throwaway line, it's a conundrum.

Han Solo.

The name is evocative - he's the guy who shot first, the guy who made the Kessel run in 12 parsecs, the guy who was cool and detached in those original films back in the 1970s.

But scratch beneath the surface and peer into the veneer to explore his origins and that's where the mystery starts to fade.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Lucasfilm set the directors of The LEGO Movie, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller to work. And then they were removed due to "creative differences" - causing the sound of a million geeks to cry out in existential terror at what lay ahead for their beloved smuggler.

In came Ron Howard to try and rescue what was there from the clutches of the Empire's vaults.

So, what we're left with with Solo: A Star Wars Story is an origin tale no one really wanted (because Han's backstory is best left to tantalising lines and imaginations), questions answered no one really asked and a story in the Star Wars universe that suggests the Empire isn't involved in everything.

Displaying some, but nowhere near enough, of the charisma that Harrison Ford delivered in the series, Hail Caesar!'s Alden Ehrenreich is Han, a scumrat who's trying to break away from his home planet of Corellia with his girlf Qi'ra (Game of Thrones Emilia Clarke) thanks to a theft of the film's MacGuffin, Hyperfuel.

Separated when their heist goes wrong, Han signs up with the baddies to become a pilot, and ends up in the trenches (the closest Star Wars has ever got to showing the gritty World War I edges of warfare) before falling in with Woody Harrelson's Beckett and his band of merry mercenaries.

Teaming up to pull a job on a flying train (one of the film's stand-out action sequences, that packs Western vibes into a snowy landscape and never loses the thread in among the pace), Han does all he can to get back to Qi'Ra and the life he used to know.

It's fair to say that Solo: A Star Wars Story doesn't really feel like a Star Wars film.

In fact, for the most part of it, the sparkle you'd feel and giddy high you'd encounter for being part of this world feels absent, with those in charge hoping the thrills would come from the fact a line was referenced, or you see how Chewbacca and Han actually met - it's a perfunctory take on the legend, and one can't help but feel shortchanged in some of the execution.

It's to be commended for trying to widen the universe without always having to tie back into it (something the countless novels and stories have always done) and the how-he-became-a-smuggler isn't quite told in the way you'd expect.

Glover manages a perfect Billy Dee Williams impression, but his Lando isn't quite the high-stakes scoundrel we'd expect, and most of the performance feels bathed in the "cool" that's currently surrounding Glover, rather than anything else.

Equally, it has to be said, that while Ehrenreich comes occasionally close to matching some of what Ford did as Solo thanks to hints of where his future lies, the cocky edges aren't on show, and even hints of them are missing. He feels like he's come from a Western, and is trying to impress as Solo, but the script doesn't quite serve him as well.

In fairness, Han and Chewie's relationship - along with Phoebe Waller-Bridge's L3-37 robot and Lando - are where the film really does hit its straps. Playful, earnest and with heart, these fire unexpectedly off the screen from the moment they're seen - and really make parts of Solo: A Star Wars Story stand out. It's a shame there's not more of this, as when they come, they're joyous.

Unfortunately, Clarke and Ehrenreich have little chemistry, and what little they can muster pales into insignificance with the ease of what Carrie Fisher and Ford achieved. For an emotional centre, it's sorely miscast and deeply uninvolving.

Ultimately, Solo: A Star Wars Story feels muted, and struggles with some lulls; it doesn't help that most of the mystery of Solo is unravelled in other's hands, leaving you the feeling none of his hinted-at reputation was earned, merely given, which is a crucial difference in such a character, whose reputation is key. 

What emerges from the spinoff space saga is a feeling that it feels like a project that floundered to find an edge, a piece of fan service that tries too hard to hit its core audience in the intergalactic feels (You want a Cantina style scene? Sure, we'll give you that) and which which tries to subvert expectations, but never quite gets there.

Solo: A Star Wars Story may never reach the pantheon of the greatest Star Wars films, and its perfunctory execution and lurching-from-one-sequence-to-the-next don't do it any favours. 

In this galaxy far, far away, the stars don't appear to shine as brightly.

It may have been doomed from the start, thanks to the weight of what happened in 1977, but it certainly shows that not everything in this endless galaxy needs to be explained, and that sometimes, a hint of mystery should be - and indeed is - more than enough to sustain a legend for cinematic eternity. 

Watch The Walking Dead Season 9 official opening credits

Watch The Walking Dead Season 9 official opening credits

The Walking Dead Season 9 is just around the corner.

Ahead of the release of the show, and Andrew Lincoln's Rick leaving The Walking Dead, we've got our first look at the first new show titles in 8 years.

Watch The Walking Dead Season 9 below!

Venom: Film Review

Venom: Film Review

Cast: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Jenny Slate
Director: Reuben Fleischer

As tonally schizophrenic as its star talking to its symbiote, Sony’s attempt to bring anti-hero Venom into the 21st century stumbles into cliched exposition land but never fully finds its feet.

Hardy is Eddie Brock, a crusading internet reporter whose show The Eddie Brock Report champions the wronged

But when Brock loses his job and his fiancée (Williams, in a phone-it-in turn) because of his refusal to be a patsy in his interview with Riz Ahmed’s tech giant Carlton Drake, he spirals down.

Offered a chance months later to find out what Drake has been up to at the LIFE institute, Brock’s life is changed when he’s infected with a parasitic alien creature aka Venom.

With the LIFE institute after him to retrieve their “property”, the Brock/ Venom hybrid goes on the run as they try to stop the conspiracy.

Venom feels like a curious hybrid itself - and much like the symbiote struggles with its prospective host, director Fleischer struggles to deliver something that feels nothing more than a garbled, rushed mess.

A hastily assembled opening 20 minutes barely gives any characters chance to breathe and dispenses swathes of emotionally necessary narrative for the hell of it, leaving you gasping to care for what unfolds.

Meshing body horror with a bizarre buddy comedy, Hardy gurns and mumbles his way through the film, giving Brock scant moments of humanity here and there. Plenty of the film sees him pacing and talking to himself before the CGI elements kick into play. It's a shame as Hardy's more than committed to the role, whatever it demands.

The comedic elements are fine and hint at what could have been had the PG bloodless approach been jettisoned for something darker and more twisted. If anything at times, Venom shows a troubled production and hints at a fear of going further than it could.

Some decent FX aside (the twisting rotating creatures are well done, as are scenes of the symbiotes being rejected) much of the action passes by in a blur;, and in parts looks like children flinging and flailing around wet coloured spaghetti; certainly a creature feature finale looks messy and garbled, with neither element standing out, nor the singular triumphant moment emerging at the end.


Ultimately, and sadly, this Venom lacks bite - it's not as bad as you're expecting, but it's not as good either - ironically, this venom is not the cure to the cinematic poison of anti-superhero films.

Win a double pass to see BEAST

Win a double pass to see BEAST

To celebrate the release of BEAST in cinemas on October 4th, thanks to Icon Films, you can win a double pass.

About BEAST

A troubled woman living in an isolated community finds herself pulled between the control of her oppressive family and the allure of a secretive outsider suspected of a series of brutal murders.

BEAST is in cinemas now!


This competition has now closed.

Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot: Film Review

Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot: Film Review

Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Jonah Hill, Jack Black
Director: Gus Van Sant

A heady mix of life-affirming biography, swirled in with a truly chameleonic performance from Joaquin Phoenix as Oregon slacker John Callahan, Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot shouldn't really work.

After all, it's the usual trappings of a illness TV movie of the week - guy wrecks his life, guy tries to put his life back together. But what it is about Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot that works is simply, Phoenix.

Callahan was paralysed after a car accident at the age of 21, in which the driver, a fellow alcholic played with anarchic glee by Jack Black, walked away scot free. Callahan was not so lucky, choosing to go down the path of self-destruction before ultimate redemption, and discovering a penchant for black-humoured cartoons.

A patchwork portmanteau start sees Van Sant messing with timelines, a twitchy holding-you-at-arms-length approach which takes some getting used to. But as the story treads its familiar route, it's peppered with such warmth and disarming moments of humour and reality that its sentiment wins you over (even if it dangerously veers close to overdose at times, and showcases some of the lesser written characters, such as Mara's carer / girlfriend).

Thankfully, Phoenix delivers another stunning performance.

Whether it's Callahan going hell for leather in his wheelchair through the streets, or making his own denials about what his mother did to him, Phoenix takes every moment and makes it his own, overcoming the script's occasional weaknesses and the somewhat sanitised view of life in a wheelchair.

It's impossible not to feel something for Callahan in this, and Phoenix is the main reason why, along with the anarchic tones and touches deployed throughout. Solid support comes from an early unrecognisable Jonah Hill, whose Jesus Christ-like hippy sponsor becomes central to peripherary proceedings.

Never stronger than when it uses some deftly off-kilter touches to develop the film from above its overtly familiar roots, Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot trades a careful line between inspiring and irritating.

In the end though, Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot works, and hits a level of affecting which is as surprising as it is moving.